Gilvan Samico, "Criação - Homem e Mulher", 1993

Gilvan José Meira Lins Samico (Recife, Pernambuco, 1928- ). Engraver, painter, draughtsman, lecturer. In 1952, together with other artists, Gilvan Samico founded the Ateliê Coletivo [Collective Studio] of the Sociedade de Arte Moderna do Recife – SAMR [Recife Modern Art Society], conceived by Abelardo da Hora (1924).

Gilvan studied wood engraving with Lívio Abramo (1903 – 1992) in 1957 at the Escola de Artesanato [School of Crafts] of the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo – MAM/SP [São Paulo Museum of Modern Art]. In the following year, he moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he studied engraving with Oswaldo Goeldi (1895 – 1961) at the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes – Enba [National School of Fine Arts]. With a great technical mastery, he dedicated himself in his work to textures elaborated with linear rhythms.

In 1965, he settled in Olinda, lecturing in wood engraving at the Universidade Federal da Paraíba – UFPA [Federal University of Paraíba]. In 1968, with the foreign travel prize won at the 17th Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna [National Salon of Modern Art], he spent two years in Europe. In 1971, he was invited by Ariano Suassuna to join the Movimento Armorial [Armorial Movement], directed towards popular Northeastern culture and the literature of the Cordel.

Gilvan Samico

His output is marked by the recovery of the poetry of the Northeast through the Cordel literature and the creative use of wood engravings. His engravings are populated by biblical and other figures deriving from myths and local stories, as well as fantastic and mythical animals. With the presentation of new subject matter, he introduced a formal simplification into his work, reducing the use of colour and textures.

Samico has works in the MoMA in New York and participated twice in the Venice Biennale with an award in one of them.

via Samico, Gilvan (1928- ).

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• Roots: Magalhães, Aloísio (1927)

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Milton Viola "Millôr" Fernandes

Milton Viola Fernandes (Rio de Janeiro RJ 1923). Satirical cartoonist, caricaturist, illustrator, writer, poet, playwright, translator. First drawing published in O Jornal, in 1934. At the age of 13, he was hired by the magazine, O Cruzeiro, where he carried out a variety of journalistic tasks: writing captions, pagination and working as office boy. In an attempt to improve his skills, he attended the Liceu de Artes e Ofícios [School of Arts and Crafts] of Rio de Janeiro from 1938 to 1943.

In 1939, after winning a story competition promoted by the magazine, A Cigarra [The Cicada], he was invited by Frederico Chateaubriand to write for the same magazine. He then created the Poste-Escrito [Written Post] section, writing under the pseudonym, Emmanuel Vão Gôgo, which he also used to write a column in the Diário da Noite, subsequently directing A Cigarra for three years. He also directed O Guri [The Kid], a magazine in comic strip format, and O Detetive [The Detective], of crime stories. In 1945, he produced Pif-Paf, the humour section of the magazine, O Cruzeiro, with articles by himself, also written under the pseudonym of Emmanuel Vão Gôgo that were initially illustrated by Péricles (1924 – 1961), and subsequently by himself.

In 1964, having already left O Cruzeiro, Millôr Fernandes edited the magazine Pif-Paf, which only ran for eight issues. From 1964 to 1974, he wrote a weekly column from Portugal for the newspaper, Diário Popular. From 1969 to 1975, he took part in the Rio de Janeiro-based weekly, O Pasquim, together with Jaguar (1932-), Tarso de Castro, Sérgio Cabral (1937), Henfil (1944 – 1988), Paulo Francis (1930 – 1997), Ziraldo (1932-), among others. In addition to his output in the printed media, Millôr has presented TV programmes on TV Itacolomi of Belo Horizonte, and on TV Tupi, of Rio de Janeiro. He writes poems, articles, adaptations and translations for the theatre and screenplays for the cinema, having also published dozens of books.

via Fernandes, Millôr (1923).

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• Roots: J. Borges (1935)
• Roots: Câmara, João (1944)

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Rogério Duarte at The Narrows Gallery

It is impossible to comment on the work of Rogério Duarte from a purely visual perspective. It carries complexities that you can’t begin to grasp until you first understand the environment in which it was created. Duarte was born in Brazil in 1939. He is a graphic designer, poet, songwriter and professor and recognised as an intellectual force of the Tropicália movement of the late 60s, dominated by musicians such as Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso.
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This autumn, The Narrows in Melbourne, Australia showed an insightful retrospective of Rogério Duarte’s work with curators Warren Taylor and James Hibbard carefully positioning the collection within this broader context. The exhibition vibrantly brought together iconic works created during the Tropicália movement and included record covers created for resistance musicians Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso and Gil Jorge, original posters designed for experimental Cinema Novo films, book covers, poetry and other media.
(…)
Duarte chaotically mixes styles and influences. He cannibalises and re-elaborates popular-culture references. Duarte devours and spits out The Beatles’ Let It Be cover for Veloso’s 1975 album, Qualquer Coisa, and his artwork for Gilberto Gil’s self-titled release is heavily influenced by Peter Blake’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (but features Gil in military-style art-school uniform).

Grafik magazine can be purchased here.

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J. Borges and his "Folhetos de Cordel", by LOST.ART

Artist and poet José Francisco Borges (J. Borges) was born in 1935 in the village of Bezerros, Pernambuco state, in Northeastern Brazil. Today Borges is Brazil’s best-known folk artist working in the woodcut medium, and his work has been exhibited all over the world. But he comes out of a long tradition of folk poet/artists who publish their own work in the form of small (generally about 6″ by 9″) cheap chap-books or pamphlets written in verse, known as folhetos. They are also known as literatura de cordel after the way vendors sell them in the marketplace, hanging over a string. This tradition (including the work of Borges) is described in detail by Candace Slater in her book Stories on a String: The Brazilian ‘Literatura de Cordel’.

Marion Oettinger, director of the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Latin American Art at the San Antonio Museum of Art, describes these folhetos in his book The Folk Art of Latin America: Visiones del Pueblo: “Brazilian chap books deal with popular poetry, accounts of local catastrophes, popular legends, famous crimes, and infamous love affairs. The Man who Married a Donkey, The Son Who Murdered His Parents in Order to Get His Hands on Their Retirement Benefit, The Football Game in Hell, and The Overturned Bus Disaster are examples of the alluring titles found in a typical marketplace. The front of these pamplets usually contain wood-block illustrations of the book’s contents, and they, in themselves, form a special type of folk expression…. Frequently, chap book vendors sing the songs in their books or read aloud the contents of their books to market crowds, many of whom are illiterate, and their voices usually draw enormous gatherings.”

José Francisco Borges began writing verse for folhetos in his 20s, and soon also began to operate a printing press to produce woodcut prints for their covers. “When I was a kid, the only leisure activity we had was to read cordel literature,” recalled Borges. “The way people watch telenovelas today, we read cordel booklets.”

While working as a salesman, Borges decided to try his hand at writing a story. He showed it to a veteran “cordelista,” who encouraged him to publish. It took eight years for Borges to save up the cash to self-publish his first edition. With nothing left over to pay an illustrator for the cover, which needed a requisite black-ink woodblock print, he had to produce his own artwork.

Now he has authored over 200 chapbooks and says that he’s lost count of how many he’s illustrated for less graphically-inclined storyteller-poets. His press Borges also prints booklets. “I get lots of orders of cordel booklets,” he said – including some that serve as company training manuals or that teach the basics of things like how to take out a bank loan. “Country hicks don’t like to read magazines, but if you give him a cordel booklet he’ll read it – and enjoy it,” Borges said.

"The Arrival of the Prostitute in Heaven", WoodCut, J. Borges

Working with just a knife and a chunk of wood, Mr. Borges proves that ”low-level technology often yields very powerful, moving and sophisticated results,” said Marion Oettinger, ”Thanks to Borges and others like him, the popular graphics tradition is alive and well in Brazil in a way that you don’t see in other countries.”

In the 1960s his woodcuts came to be recognized in their own right. According to Ariano Suassuna, writer, poet and a leading figure of the Armorial Movement, the Brazilian Cordel could be divided in the following cycles: the heroic, the wonderful, the religious or moral, the satiric and historic. J. Borges says that Ariano once told him “I was the best in the Northeast. Now he says I’m the best in the world,” noted Borges with a smile.

Borges followed the advice of some admirers to produce folio-sized stand-alone prints. Often in color, they depict the same fantastic and folkloric rural characters as the booklets: The Hangover Bar, The Cowboy Mass, The Girl Who Turned into a Snake, and The Macumba Ceremony. These have attracted the attention of museums and collectors. But even in larger formats, his prints reflect the same popular themes, such as The Honeymoon of Matuto (an archetypal back-country bumpkin), The Monster of the Backlands, The Woman who Put the Devil in a Bottle, The Arrival of the Prostitute in Heaven and many tales of the legendary bandit Lampião.

Borges’ work has now been exhibited all over Brazil as well as in Paris, Zurich, Buenos Aires and in Germany and the United States. The Louvre, the Smithsonian and the International Folk Art Market in Santa Fe have exhibited Borges’ work. UNESCO has honored Mr. Borges with awards for his contributions to world culture. They also commissioned him to illustrate the cover of the United Nations 2002 calendar. The United States Library of Congress has preserved a body of Mr. Borges work in its’ permanent collection.

via Indigo Arts Gallery | Brazilian Folk Art | Jose Francisco Borges.

Read Also:

• Gráfica Fidalga produces artwork for Creative Review magazine
• Movements: O Gráfico Amador
• Roots: Gilvan Samico (1928 – )
• Brazilian posters win 1st prize in Bolivia
• Roots: Fernandes, Millôr (1923)

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"Aniki Bobo", by João Cabral de Melo Neto

Aloísio Magalhães, while still attending law school in Recife (the capital of Pernambuco), had already begun to show his fascination with graphic arts by skillfully illustrating a poetry book written by a colleague of his from the university, José Laurenio de Melo.

After graduating, he traveled to Paris to study painting and engraving at the Atelier 17, an important European center of engraving. Once back in Brazil, he met with Gastão de Holanda, a former classmate from the university, who had also been in Paris, studying literature.

Coincidentally, a famous cousin of Magalhães, the renowned Brazilian poet João Cabral de Melo Neto, moved to Recife at that time. This cousin strongly encouraged the two young artists to open their own private print shop, similar to the one he himself had had in Barcelona. It was in that print shop that Cabral de Melo Neto had produced his own books through craftsmanship, while he was in the town occupying the post of consul.

Magalhães and José Laurenio became excited about the idea of setting up a print shop and they sought other former friends from the university who were also involved in literature and graphic arts. Among the main names of those who founded O Gráfico Amador in 1954, it is worth mentioning Ariano Suassuna, José Laurenio, and Orlando da Costa Ferreira.

Brought together by their passion for books and their quests in philosophical and aesthetic issues – which were connected to Modernism, a Brazilian art movement – these individuals produced grand experimental works that combined poetry, illustration, a bold typographical style, an alternative and informal use of paper and elements in relief printing. All these ingredients greatly contributed towards creating a more pleasing relationship between text and image.

O Gráfico Amador was being closely followed by Le Courrier Graphique, from Paris, as well as by the Curwen Press, from London. Additionally, several intellectuals and artists from Pernambuco and people from the artistic milieu also contributed to the magazine.

This undertaking was a key factor in Aloísio Magalhães’ career, for he later became a pioneering figure in the history of Brazilian graphic design. Let us not forget that benchmarks were scarce at that time, especially outside of the region linking Rio de Janeiro to São Paulo. Moreover, Magalhães became a leading pioneer in the history of Brazilian typography, as he was acutely aware of the profound relationships between artistic and industrial production.

O Gráfico Amador revealed itself as being a reference in the scenario of Brazilian culture and it was displayed in an exhibition at the Brazilian National Library, in Rio de Janeiro, in 1959.

The magazine closed its doors in 1961. It had issued altogether 20 publications, including the first edition of the poem Ciclo, by Carlos Drummond de Andrade – a renowned Brazilian poet. Its patrimony was donated to Escola de Belas Artes do Recife (Recife’s Fine Arts College).

via :: REDE DESIGN BRASIL ::.

Read Also:

• Roots: Magalhães, Aloísio (1927)
• Roots: Monteiro, Vicente do Rêgo (1899 – 1970)
• Roots: Câmara, João (1944)
• Roots: J. Borges (1935)
• Roots: Fernandes, Millôr (1923)

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"Aloísio Magalhães", by Mônica Fuchshuber

Aloísio Magalhães took his first steps in the field of graphic design took place while he was still attending law school in Recife. In 1950, during his last year as a student, he made illustrations for a book of poetry, Palhano, written by a friend of his the university, José Laurenio de Melo. Having finished his course, Aloisio headed for Paris, where he intended to study painting and engraving with Stanley Hayter at the Atelier 17 studio, an important European center of engraving.

In 1954, influenced by the renowned Brazilian poet (and his cousin) João Cabral de Melo Neto – he set up, together with some friends, a modest print shop called O Gráfico Amador that, during the eight subsequent years that it was operating, published 27 books, 3 sets of fliers, 2 bulletins and a theater program.

In 1960 Magalhães founded a design office whose name was originally Aloísio Magalhães. In 1976, PVDI became its official name (this original office is still functioning, carrying out projects in the area of visual identity systems and product design).

It is only in 1970 that his office develops its first large design project in Brazil for Petrobras, the giant state-owned Brazilian oil company. The scope of the project ranged from the design of a symbol that would be stamped on oil packaging to the entire system of visual identity that would be displayed both at distribution points and on gas pumps at all of the gas stations run by the company.

In 1976, Brazil’s Central Bank commissioned him once again to render services to the institution (in fact his office had already carried out a few jobs for it in 1967 and 1972). This assignment comprised redesigning Brazil’s units of currency. Thus the project encompassed the task of defining a complex system of creation, including aspects such as selecting the most appropriate graphic motives to be used as well as key decisions regarding the technology to be adopted – amongst the types of technology available at that time. The project, as a whole, aimed to make Brazil self-sufficient in the production of its paper bills and coins.

In 1979, Magalhães takes on the post of administrating the Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional – IPHAN (Brazil’s Institute of Historic and Artistic National Patrimony). His ideas regarding the management of this institution had a lot in common with the ones advocated by Mário de Andrade 50 years before. Hence, he proceeded to promote a revolution in the institute’s policies, when compared with the long-lasting, deeply ingrained policies that the IPHAN upheld at the time. His broad vision, which embodied the concept of what a cultural asset should be, and his philosophy that the custody of the shared patrimony should be transferred to the community that is primarily concerned with it, set new and unprecedented paradigms in the handling of the national memory. At that time, Magalhães — taking advantage of his talent as a designer – begins drafting a new layout for the institutional framework connected to the cultural issue in Brazil.

As the outcome of intense political maneuvers and persuasiveness, IPHAN finally becomes a Secretariat directly subordinated to MEC (Brazil’s Ministry of Education and Culture) in January 1980 and soon later the Fundação Nacional Pró-Memória (Pro-Memory National Foundation) is created. Consistent to his efforts to reorganize the infrastructure of state agencies with respect to their form of handling issues related to culture, he takes up the presidency of the Fundação Nacional de Arte (National Art Foundation) and is later invited to become Brazil’s Secretary of Culture.

He dies from a stroke in Padua, Italy, in 1982.

November 5 – Aloísio Magalhães’ date of birth – has become Brazil’s National Designers Day, a homage paid to the contributions he made in the profession.

via :: REDE DESIGN BRASIL ::.

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• Roots: Gilvan Samico (1928 – )

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Vicente do Rego Monteiro, "As Religiosas", 1969

Vicente do Rego Monteiro (Recife, Pernambuco, 1899 – idem, 1970). Painter, sculptor, draughtsman, illustrator, graphic artist. Began his artistic studies in 1908, accompanying his sister, Fedora do Rego Monteiro (1889 – 1975) on courses at the National School of Fine Arts (Enba) in Rio de Janeiro.

In 1911, he travelled with his family to France, where he attended the Academies Colarossi, Julian and de La Grande Chaumière. In 1913, he took part in the Salon des Indépendants, of which he became a member. In Paris, he maintained contact with Amedeo Modigliani (1884 – 1920), Fernand Léger (1881 – 1955), Georges Braque (1882 – 1963), Joán Miró (1893 – 1983), Albert Gleizes (1881 – 1953), Jean Metzinger (1883 – 1956) and Louis Marcoussis (1883 – 1941).

At the start of the First World War (1914-1918), he left France with his family, settling in Rio de Janeiro in 1915. In 1918, he held his first individual exhibition at the Santa Isabel Theatre in Recife, showing his work for the first time two years later, in São Paulo, where he met Di Cavalcanti (1897 – 1976), Anita Malfatti (1889 – 1964), Pedro Alexandrino (1856 – 1942) and Victor Brecheret (1894 – 1955). In 1920, he studied the art of the Marajó culture in the collections of the National Museum of Quinta da Boa Vista. Moved by a passion for dance, in 1921 he staged the spectacle, Lendas, Crenças e Talismãs dos Índios do Amazonas [Legends, Beliefs and Talismans of the Amazonian Indians], at the Trianon Theatre in Rio de Janeiro, which was praised by the poet and critic, Ronald de Carvalho (1893 – 1935). He left for France, leaving behind eight oil paintings and watercolours for exhibition during Semana de Arte Moderna [Modern Art Week] of 1922, in São Paulo.

In 1923, he made drawings of masks and costumes for the ballet, Legendes Indiennes de L’Amazonie [Indian Legends of Amazonia]. He joined the group of artists associated with the gallery and magazine, L’Effort Moderne, of Leonce Rosemberg. He also brought the exhibition A Escola de Paris [The School of Paris] to Brazil, with showings in Recife, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. In 1937, he decorated the Chapel of Brazil in the Vatican Pavilion of the International Exhibition of Paris.

In 1946, he founded the publisher, La Presse à Bras, dedicated to the publication of Brazilian and French poetry. From 1941 onwards, he published his first verses, Poemas de Bolso [Pocket Poems], organising and promoting various poetry salons and congresses in France and Brazil. Returning to Brazil, he gave lectures in painting at the School of Fine Arts of the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), in 1957 and 1966.

In 1960, he received the Guillaume Apollinaire Prize for his sonnets, collected in the book, Broussais – La Charité. From 1966 to 1968, he lectured at the Central Institute of the Arts of the University of Brasília (UnB).

via Monteiro, Vicente do Rego (1899 – 1970).

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• Roots: Duarte, Rogério (1939)

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Rogério Duarte, a graphic designer, musician, composer, poet, philosopher and professor, is considered to be the one of the main intellectual forces behind the Tropicália/Tropicalismo movement. Duarte co-wrote songs with key figures of the movement including Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso and produced the album covers for other great names in Brazilian popular music, such as Gal Costa, João Gilberto and Jorge Ben.

The Brazilian artistic movement ‘Tropicália’ arose in the late 1960s, during a time of international cultural and political upheaval, with civil rights movements and anti-Vietnam protests in the US, riots in Paris, and the 1964 military coup in Brazil. The movement was truly global in its perspective, reflecting the chaos and anti-authoritarianism that seemed to be sweeping the world. The movement redefined Brazilian arts and re-shaped Brazilian society.

Although the original movement was crushed by an authoritarian regime, the influence and irrepressible spirit of Tropicália is far reaching. Many musicians including David Byrne, Beck and Kurt Cobain cite the influence of Tropicália on their work, and the ground breaking nature of the visual arts has only recently begun to be fully appreciated.

Tropicália launched the careers of many of Brazil’s most famous musicians and was Duarte’s closest association with fame. A true polymath, his work spans numerous fields and decades but he is best known as a designer of record covers for many of the great names of Brazilian popular music, such as Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, João Gilberto and Jorge Ben, posters for some of the signal films of Brazilian cinema, including Black God, White Devil, as well as book covers and works in other media. This exhibition showcases the range of Duarte’s creative endeavors in Brazil during his period.

As part of the 2009 Melbourne International Arts Festival, the exhibition will be launched on Thursday October 15 at 6pm and will continue until Saturday November 14.

ROGÉRIO DUARTE
OPENS 6PM THURSDAY OCTOBER 15 2009
Curated by Warren Taylor and James Hibberd

The Narrows
Level 2 | 141 Flinders Lane
Melbourne Victoria – Australia 3000
P + 61 03 9654 1534
www.thenarrows.org
info@thenarrows.org

Warren Taylor has an ongoing interest in the work of Rogério Duarte and as founder and director of The Narrows, has initiated, curated and toured exhibitions by distinguished graphic artists such as Ronald Clyne (2007), Experimental Jetset (2007), Roma Publications (2007), Ed Fella (2008), John Melin (2008) and Tobias Frere-Jones (2009).

James Hibberd has a longstanding interest in Tropicália specifically, and South American cultures more broadly, including history, literature, indigenous cultures and music.

Poster for the film Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol, 1964

Read Also:

• Rogério Duarte exhibition in Australia reviewed by UK’s Grafik magazine
• Roots: Duarte, Rogério (1939)
• Brazilian posters for the Green Movement in Iran
• São Paulo’s Modern Art Museum “Brazilian Design Today: Frontiers”
• DINGBATS BRASIL

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Premiere Brazil! 2009, the seventh annual collaboration between MoMA and the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, introduces New York audiences to original and compelling films by both new and established Brazilian filmmakers. The exhibition’s opening-night screening is the U.S. premiere of acclaimed director Bruno Barreto’s Last Stop 174, a tender and suspenseful story of human tragedy and loss set in Rio de Janeiro. Also featured are eight seminal works by Eduardo Coutinho, Brazil’s master of documentary filmmaking. Highly regarded for their formally distinguished and innovative style, Coutinho’s influential films highlight the amazing storytelling abilities of ordinary people. The Coutinho retrospective includes the world premiere of his latest film, Moscow. The festival’s annual selection of classic films celebrates the centenary of one of Brazil’s most popular composers, Villa Lobos, with a screening of the rare 1937 Humberto Mauro film The Discovery of Brazil, which features a beautiful Lobos score. Several music-filled documentaries featuring Brazil’s most beloved contemporary poets and performers form a significant component of this year’s festival, which also includes live performances of Brazilian music in the Museum’s Sculpture Garden, presented as part of MoMA Thursday Nights. All films are from Brazil and in Portuguese with English subtitles. Most first screenings will be introduced by the filmmaker(s).

via MoMA | Premiere Brazil! 2009.

Read Also:

• Luiz Carlos Barreto lifetime achievements highlighted in the New York Times
• International panel debates still and moving images at the 2nd Brazil Film Festival in China
• Brazilian Design at the New York’s MoMA Store
• Rogério Duarte exhibition in Australia
• Discover the Brazilian Cinema

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